The Recruit
The Recruit is the first novel in the CHERUB series, written by Robert Muchamore. It introduces most of the main characters, such as James Adams (James Choke), Lauren Adams (Lauren Onions), Kyle Blueman and Kerry Chang. The book itself was originally to be called 'CHERUB 1.0. The book mainly focuses on James changing from a couch potato to a skillfull CHERUB agent. Plot The book starts with James in science class. A girl called Samantha Jennings was making fun of James' Mum,Gwen Choke, for being fat. James eventually gets mad and throws Samantha against the wall, accidentally her cheek on a nail, meaning she required eight stitches. James realised that he was in trouble so he went towards the door meaning to storm out. The teacher, Miss Voolt, tried to stop him so James pushed her out of the way, meaning that she received injuries to her back. James left the school by climbing over a barrier in the teacher's car park. After waiting in a tunnel so he didn't arrive home to early so his Mum wouldn't know something was up. When he went home James looked at his Mum's phone and saw that it had 12 missed calls. James then went into the living room and saw his Mum and his Mum's ex-husband Ron who were both drunk. James knew his Mum wasn't allowed to drink alcohol will her pills but she ignored him. Gwen then told him to collect his sister, Lauren, from school and get something to eat with some money in her purse. Lauren comes out and starts moaning about her teacher, Mrs Reed, for "punishing her for being smart", as she wasn't allowed to go and get her book when she finished her sums. James and Lauren went to a burger restaurant for dinner with the money James had taken from his mothers purse. On the way home, James and Lauren got stopped by Greg Jennings, Samantha's older brother who was the toughest person in James' school. He punched James in the stomach and told him that there was more to come When they got back Ron, who is Lauren's father had left. James saw his Mum, apparently asleep, so he went to his bedroom and played Grand Theft Auto. When he next saw his Mum, he checked her pulse and discovered that she was dead. When the doctor came Lauren had to be given an injection for shock. James gets taken to a children's home called Nebraska House. Nebraska House is run-down and short-staffed. The supervisors sometimes offer residents cigarettes. Shortly after arriving at Nebraska House James gets taken back home. A guy called Kevin goes with him. When James goes into his room he discovers that Ron had taken his television and his good CD player. James decides to go into his mum's room and try to open her safe. Gwen Choke had lots of money made from a shoplifting empire she ran from her living room by phone. She never actually stole herself but used other people to do it for her. As a result of making money from an illegal shoplifting business Gwen never kept money in the bank but kept it in her safe. When James went in he saw that Ron had made a poor effort to break into the safe. James suspected he would come back later with better equipment. As James didn't want Ron to get his mother's money he tried to get into the safe. The only clue he had was that he had once walked in on his mother opening the safe with a Danielle Steele novel in her hand. James found the book and started flicking through the pages. Just then Kevin called out to him and he was so on edge that he dropped the book on the floor. When he recovered he looked at the book and saw it had opened at a page with numbers written on it. The book had sprung open at the page because it had been open at that page so often. James used the numbers to open the safe and took out forty-three thousand pounds. As well as the money James took his PS2, a tatty CD player and his mobile phone back to Nebraska House. Finally he took a brush because there was a picture of James and his Mum when Gwen was holding the brush. When James returned to Nebraska House he cut the back out of his CD player and put thirty-nine thousand of the forty-three thousand he had taken from the safe into it. He put the other four thousand, in rolls of one thousands, in obvious places such as in his shoe and in his jacket pocket. He then waited to meet his new roommate. His roommates was Kyle Blueman. Kyle was a neat-freak. He got chased into his room by a boy who's diary Kyle had stolen and read out his poems. Kyle let James use his PS2 on his TV and told James he was spoiled. On James' first day at his new school, Kyle gave him a girl's tie to wear. When James was lost he got directions from a big guy called Rob. Later that night James went out with Rob and his mates Vince, Big Paul and Little Paul and smashed a car's window. James then got a police caution for assaulting Samantha Jennings. Later that night he got a night in he cells for trying to steal beer. He would have escaped, except Vince and Little Paul held the shop door so he couldn't get out. To enter CHERUB James had to pass five induction tests. The chairman, Mac, was waching all of the tests. The first test was to fight an experienced fighter called Bruce. Bruce was fast and smashed James' nose and dislocated his thumb. Bruce was about to break James' arm before he withdrew from the fight. The next test was to take five test papers.The test was about maths and verrbal skills. James only completed two of the five papers. The third test was to kill a chicken with a biro pen. Initionally James didn't want to kill the chicken but he allowed Mac to convince him to kill it. The fourth test was to complete an obstacle course that was very high in the air. The obstacle course included walking across planks with jumps between it, and jump right down to the bottom of the obstacle course onto a mat. The final test was to collect a brick from the bottom of a pool. James didn't even attemp this test. When James got back to the chairman's office he was offered a place in CHERUB because he had passed the tests. He passed the first test because there was no way he was going to beat Bruce in a fight and he withdrew before Bruce did serious damage. He passed the second test because he did really well in the maths section. The test with the chicken he passed, but poorly, because he allowed Mac to bully him into killing the chicken. In the fourth test he passed well. In the final test James passed because he used common sense as he knew he couldn't swim. Therefore James was offered a place in CHERUB. After James had accepted the place in CHERUB he would leave Nebraska House. He discovered that Kyle was a CHERUB agent who had recommended him to be a CHERUB agent. James discovered that to become a fully qualified CHERUB agent, which you need to be to go on undercover missions, you have to complete a 100 day training course called Basic Training. Kyle calls Basic Training "the worst hundred days of your life". The reason for Basic Training being so horrible is so that when a CHERUB does something tough on a mission they will know that they have been through worse in training. One of the mottos said during Basic Training is "This is tough, but cherubs are tougher. James would use this phrase to comfort him in later missions. Just before James went on his training course he had to learn how to swim. A girl called Amy Collins taught him how to swim but James was still too scared of the water to swim the required 50 metres. Eventually he got bullied into swimming the 50 metres by two older boys called Paul and Arif. This tactic worked because James could swim but was scared of the water. Paul and Arif made themselves scarier than the water so James swam the 50 metres instead of being bullied by the older boys. After learning to swim James went on mission with Kyle, despite not being allowed to so he could see his sister. He got caught but was not punished like Kyle because he was about to start Basic Training. On his first day of Basic Training James was late because someone had stolen his alarm clock. He was meant to be at the training compound for 5am but was two and a half hours late. The other trainees got a punishment of crouching on their knees for the time James was late. The trainees also missed lunch. When James starts Basic Training, he get's grouped with a eleven year old chinese girl called Kerry Chang and they start basic training together. Although they have their arguments, Kerry and James get along and finish Basic Training. Soon after, James is sent on his first mission. with Amy Collins to infiltrate Fort Harmony who works for terrorist organisation Help Earth. While they do the mission, James starts dating a girl called Joanna. James and Amy successfully finish the mission, but James get contacted with a viral infection. When the mission finished, Mac gave James his Navy shirt and James' new friends (who were all Grey shirts) didn't believe that James had actually earned his Navy shirt (because they thought he had stolen it). Category:Books